Hanging racks have been developed which employ removeable and interchangeable hangers (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,848,937 and 4,069,920). The techniques employed to attach the hangers to these racks have created a variety of problems.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,848,937, for instance, there is disclosed a rack including a metallic strip having pairs of spring tongues which are spaced apart along the length of the strip. Each pair of spring tongues receives a hook member from which clothes, such as coats and hats, may be hung. The rack suffers from two disadvantages as a result of the design and construction of the spring tongues. First, the strip is basically limited to a metallic construction, because the forces applied to the tongues by the clothes hung from the hook members would bend or break the tongues if they were made from many non-metallic materials, such as plastic. Second, because the tongues extend outwardly from the strip, they detract from the aesthetic appearance of the rack.
A wall bracket system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,069,920. The wall bracket system includes a plurality of nestable rings. Each ring is provided with a plurality of holes adapted to receive hooks for holding articles such as towels, ties, scarves, etc. Each hook has a shank portion which terminates in a pair of resilient prongs adapted to be snapped together for insertion through one of the holes and released for clamping engagement with one of the rings. The wall bracket system suffers from two disadvantages. First, because the resilient prongs must be bent in order to insert and remove the hooks, the prongs can be permanently deformed or broken as a result of repeated bending, thereby impairing or destroying their clamping ability. Second, because the prongs extend outwardly beyond the back of the rings, the rings cannot be mounted flush against a wall or similar mounting surface.